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Pastor Stops Playing Footsie, Cancels Koran Burning
By
Ben Yakas
Published Sep 11, 2010
Modified Sep 11, 2010
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Sep 11, 2010
Modified Sep 11, 2010
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Terry Jones, the mustachioed Florida Pastor who vowed to burn copies of the Koran on Sept. 11, then said he wouldn't, then decided he might, decreed once and for all that he won't. Jones flew to NYC this morning to give an interview on the Today Show, in which he clarifies any lingering confusion over the planned burning: "It's totally cancelled," he said.
Jones, who NBC’s Carl Quintanilla calls a "reviled man," compares himself to Abraham during the interview (you can see the full interview below), and explains that he called off the burning in hopes of meeting with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf to persuade him to move the proposed Islamic community center and mosque near Ground Zero: "We hope that with us making this first gesture of not burning the Koran, saying 'no, we're not gonna do it'... we hope that through that maybe that'll open a door to talk to the Imam..." Just some regular, old fashioned tit-for-tat!
Jones also admitted that there was no planned meeting with the Imam as of yet, despite previous declarations that he had single handedly convinced Rauf to move the Park 51 project. Despite doing very little over the past week besides talking smack, embarassing his community and his daughter, and uniting Glenn Beck and President Obama, Jones feels his work here is done: "We feel we have accomplished our goal. We feel that God has told us to stop." And hopefully, that's that.
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Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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